PHOENIX -- The Cubs came out of the All-Star break hoping to play better baseball. They wanted to put their recent struggles behind them, block out the trade rumors and focus on trying to make a postseason push in the second half.

For much of the weekend, the Cubs accomplished those goals against the struggling D-backs. However, they came up short of their first three-game winning streak in five weeks, taking a 6-4 loss in Sunday afternoon’s series finale at Chase Field.

Still, by taking two of three from Arizona, Chicago manager David Ross was encouraged by the way his team opened the second half after dropping 13 of its last 15 before the All-Star break.

“Guys are in the right frame of mind, the things they’re doing, the energy they’re bringing, the way they’ve gone about their business,” Ross said. “I haven’t seen anybody not focused, not giving effort, giving anything away, to be honest with you. I thought these guys are really excited about the second half and the potential of trying to get this thing back on track.”

On Saturday, the Cubs turned a one-run deficit into a two-run lead in the ninth inning, with Willson Contreras’ two-run homer leading them to a comeback win. On Sunday, Chicago tried to do the same thing in the final frame.

After D-backs starter Merrill Kelly mostly cruised for eight-plus innings, the Cubs trailed, 6-2, heading into the ninth. They began chipping away at the deficit when Javier Báez knocked an RBI single to bounce Kelly from the game, and closed the gap even further when Rafael Ortega drove in Báez with a double off right-hander Joakim Soria.

Chicago had the tying run at the plate with two outs, with Contreras pinch-hitting to face Soria for the second straight day. This time, though, the results didn’t go in the Cubs’ favor, as Contreras struck out looking to end the game.

But Chicago emerged optimistic after showing its fight with more late offense, even if this comeback attempt was unsuccessful.

“I think we’re going to have a better second half. We’ve got to change the way,” said Báez, who went 2-for-4 with two RBIs. “We were trying too much. A homer is not going to change the game. Especially me, I’m trying to see the ball better and just take my singles and try to help the team. I think we’re going to adjust better this second half.”

Right-hander Zach Davies allowed two runs in 4 2/3 innings, leading to Ross calling on his bullpen earlier than he had the previous two days. The unit had been untouchable to that point, as Cubs relievers combined for seven scoreless innings of one-hit ball over the first two games of the series.

However, Arizona finally scored against the Chicago ‘pen in the seventh. With the bases loaded and one out against right-hander Dan Winkler, Nick Ahmed hit a tapper in front of the plate for an RBI groundout, giving the D-backs a 3-2 lead. They added another run in the inning when Cubs left-hander Rex Brothers entered and threw a wild pitch, and Eduardo Escobar took him deep in the eighth to make it 6-2.

Chicago’s pitchers combined to issue 11 walks, including four from Davies, who hasn’t completed more than five innings in any of his past four starts. The right-hander has issued two or more walks in 11 consecutive outings, a problem he’ll try to correct moving forward.

“You’re trying to be out there a little deeper into a game,” Davies said. “If you walk him, you walk him, you move on and you try to make pitches on the next guy. I try to move past it as fast as I can. I’m not happy about it by any means, but there’s still another out to get after him.”

Despite dropping the finale, the Cubs recorded their first series win since a three-game sweep of the Cardinals from June 11-13. Now, they head to St. Louis for a four-game set that starts Monday.

“Hopefully, we take off from there. We’re obviously going to try,” Báez said. “We’re going to keep turning and trying to play hard and trying to win games. We’ll see what happens this next series.”